Libraries to offer ‘warm banks’ for families struggling with bills

‘It should not be the case that people cannot afford to keep their homes warm, but that is the reality we are facing’

“WARM BANKS” are to be set up in art galleries, museums and libraries to help people unable to heat their homes as energy prices soar.

Councils including Birmingham, Bristol, Aberdeen and Glasgow are looking at using public spaces as refuges for people struggling to pay their electricity bills this winter.

Birmingham, which is England’s biggest council serving 1.14million people, pledged yesterday to “map out spaces across the city where people can go to keep warm”.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England, said while local authorities were doing “all they can”, warm banks were “not alternatives” to providing householders with “adequate resources” to make heating their homes affordable.

Although the idea of such spaces is not new, their existence was brought to a wider audience by consumer rights campaigner Martin Lewis, earlier this year. In a tweet to to his 1.7 million followers in July, Mr Lewis said: “Can’t believe I’m writing this, but I wonder if this winter we’ll need ‘warm banks’ – the equivalent of ‘food banks’ – where people who can’t afford heating are invited to spend their days at no cost with heating (eg libraries, public buildings)?”

Replying to Mr Lewis’s tweet, Marvin Rees, the mayor of Bristol, said the city was “actively organising a city wide network of warm places – we call the ‘Welcoming Places’ – for Bristol”.

Since then, it has also emerged councils across Scotland, including Glasgow and Aberdeen, have been considering setting up “warm banks” by opening up public buildings.

In Birmingham, John Cotton, cabinet member at the Labour-run local authority, said: “Keeping warm will be a huge challenge for so many people, with the price of using domestic heating spiralling.

“We are going to work with partners to map out spaces across the city where people can go to keep warm. Whether that’s local community centres, places of worship or libraries, we want to help people to find places where they will be welcomed, free of charge.”

He added: “It should not be the case that people cannot afford to keep their homes warm, but that is the reality that we are facing here in Birmingham.” It comes as the average householder’s yearly energy bill is set to rise from October to £3,549.

Andrew Western, chairman of the LGA’S resources board, said: “As we enter the forthcoming winter months, councils are taking practical steps to support people in their community who need it the most. Although councils are doing all they can to help residents, these schemes are not alternatives to ensuring people can afford to heat their homes through the winter.”